2020 Sea Otter Classic Cancelled, Virtual 'Sea Otter Play' Event Announced for September
Back in March, the Sea Otter Classic was one of the first major cycling events to be postponed. The event was pushed from its traditional April to October 1-4. Instead of the usual Sea Otter coverage in April, we pivoted to host a virtual Pond Beaver show on Pinkbike.
Now, the organizers have made the decision to cancel the 2020 event entirely, saying that in discussions with Monterey County health officials, "it has become clear that we cannot host an event that will meet our health and safety standards."
Instead, organizers will host a virtual Sea Otter Play event in September. Sea Otter is a unique event where racing meets tradeshow, so there will be both ride challenges starting at the beginning of September before the tradeshow component will be September 17-20.
 | Dear Sea Otter Classic Supporter, First of all, thank you for your overwhelming support of the Sea Otter Classic. As previously noted, our management team has been preparing to host the event in October. After frequent discussions with Monterey County health officials, it has become clear that we cannot host an event that will meet our health and safety standards. This has always been our top priority. Consequently, we have decided to cancel the Sea Otter Classic scheduled for October 1-4, 2020. The Bicycle Leadership Conference is also cancelled. More information regarding the cancellation of the Sea Otter Classic and the Bicycle Leadership Conference will be available on July 17th. While a year without Sea Otter is hard to comprehend, we knew this was a possibility. So, we’ve been developing a new event to keep us all connected. We are pleased to bring you– Sea Otter Play presented by Continental! This premier immersive virtual experience will feature over 350 innovative cycling companies in a digital format. The event will include several cycling challenges, fundraising for COVID-19 relief, and cycling’s largest digital festival. Our partners from Sea Otter Europe, Sea Otter Canada, and Sea Otter Australia will join us in this inaugural event. “As a presenting sponsor of all Sea Otter global events, Sea Otter Play represents an innovative opportunity to connect with riders around the world,” Oliver Anhuth, Global Head of Marketing for Continental Bicycle Tires. Sea Otter Play will be held during September 2020. The ride challenges will start on September 1st and the festival will be held September 17-20. The industry response to this event has been terrific. For many sponsors and exhibitors, this will be their first opportunity to showcase their latest innovations to a global audience. We’re excited about what our September event will bring to the cycling industry and are making every effort to ensure your faith in us is rewarded with fun for you and your family. “With new challenges come new opportunities. SRAM is excited to take part in Sea Otter Play.” David Zimberoff, vice president of marketing at SRAM. Thank you again for your support during these challenging times. We encourage you to stay connected to our events and social channels for news and updates in the coming weeks. From all of us at The Sea Otter Classic, be safe. We look forward to hosting you digitally in September and being back with you in Monterey in April 2021! Frank Yohannan President & CEO Sea Otter Classic, Inc. |
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I know some companies were due to release stuff in/around Sea Otter (looking at you MRP).
Where TF did i mention masks? Masks work, maybe if your attitude of calling people retards for not wearing them was more endearing it wouldn't have become a political talking point . But carry on with your ignorance by calling it a second wave when cases have never dropped below 20k a day. LOL
World's population is 8 Billion. 500,000 of 8 Billion?
.00625%
Covid-19 has a survival rate of 99.99375%
I spat coffee out when my 5 YO said that. Kindergarten does teach something.
What generates more clicks for ads? Saying cases have doubled in the past 3 weeks, or death rate has fallen 300%+? Panic porn sells way better than telling people it's nearly as bad as you think it is.
Portraying statics is also a problem too but the former is much worse. youtu.be/bVG2OQp6jEQ
I live in Massachusetts, which I think you can see has successfully flattened the curve, and new case numbers are quite low _despite more testing availability than ever_. I'm no longer worried that if my 1 year old daughter has an allergic reaction again, (we were in the hospital 2 weekends in a row before lockdown) I won't have to decide between trying to deal at home because I don't want her to catch COVID at the overfilled hospital, and just going to the hospital and letting the proferssionals do what they do.
If Florida, Texas, and Cali held a reasonable lockdown for just a bit longer, it would have kept dropping, and Americans might be able to go the the EU right now. As it stands, it's going to take another couple few months to get actually get the rates down where they could already be at.
BTW, not dropping below 20K new cases per day is NOT A GOOD THING IN ANY POSSIBLE WAY.
You know what actually saves lives? NY state taking new case counts down by two orders of magnitude (10K to 500). And with more testing than ever.
You know what's f*cking embarrasing? Florida going UP an order of magnitude (1K to almost 10K) TWO MONTHS AFTER a bunch of other states started going DOWN.
Two months ago certain people were saying "we didn't have enough warning, defund the WHO". now, after having plenty of warning, they're sticking their heads in the sand and saying "covid ain't got shit on me" while elderly folks keep dying from a preventable disease. that's f*cking 3rd world bullshit right there.
But you are right, the time that is "right" to open up is not science it is purely how much death a society is ok with. The more death you are ok with the less lock down. Sweden was ok with death so they stayed open and death they have gotten. In fact to the tune of 457 deaths per 1million population. Notably, that is with a country that is sparsely populated on the whole but still worse than the US at 395 per 1 million.
Either way the death rate has a significant lag from an increase in infections. You would expect to be going down right now based on what was happening a month ago in the US. That does not mean anything as to what will happen in a months time. Sure those headlines attract clicks but that does not mean that everything they say is untrue.
The main reason that deaths are down is because the Northeast was so bad. We have not seen the true outcome of this surge in cases, but if we are cherry picking facts, Arizona set a record for deaths today.
What I do agree with you about is the BS that is repeated on the entertainment they call news. As an example;
"Airline flight are down 96% YoY!"
"Airline passenger traffic is up 100% WoW! We are seeing green chutes."
These two statements were 1 week apart on the same network. Passenger traffic has "recovered" from 100K fliers per day to 500K passengers today. Reality is airline passenger loads have changed forever and it will be years, if not decades before we get back to the 2.8M passengers per day that we were at before CV19. Businesses have figured out other ways to do communicate and sell so they no longer need to spend millions of dollars on travel.
"Positive results from vaccine trials today"
This was actually the headlines today. Reality is that 40 people in a stage 1 trial (incredibly small sample size) had some positive statistics. This is so far from a working and safe vaccine that it should be illegal for them to even post this crap. We have NEVER had a successful vaccine against a Coronavirus in any variant.
N E V E R despite the fact that there are seven known strains that circulate widely within the population. So negative news doesn't sell either sometime and it goes both ways.
Too many points to argue from long winded bike riders that carry a tube, sealant kit, and puncture kit in their pack is extremely exhausting.
Go ride your bike, you're prepared.
But 5 did:
Cuomo (NY)
Wolf (PA)
Whitmer (MI)
Newsom (CA)
Nearly half of all COVID nursing home deaths were in these states.
*screams and cries* ...THE WORST YEAR IN HUMAN HISTORY!!!
*wipes tears...goes out to ride the local secrets and gets blinded by tears thus riding off the edge of a cliff to my death all the while heartbroken of the loss of sea otter 2020.*
I'm signed up for 4 races (I think).
More information regarding the cancellation of the Sea Otter Classic and the Bicycle Leadership Conference will be available on July 17th.
(I'll likely roll over to next year anyway)